The Informed Consumer Strikes Again, Ends Up With Free Repair

You know what makes our day? Helping out whoever we can in a tight spot. Sort of like when Princess Leia is like, “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope,” except we are far less Jedi and really, it’s up to you to arm yourselves with info in the battle against bad companies. That being said, reader Michelle, you’re a great Leia.

Michelle wrote in to share a story of a happy ending she found by using information on Consumerist. We humbly accept her thanks and are also super excited that she had a positive resolution to her woes with Sony.

She explains that she bought a Sony PS3 two years ago, basically to watch DVds, Blu-Rays and stream Netflix movies. Then about a year ago, the dang thing started acting up. Sometimes it would work with a Blu-Ray, sometimes not. It all came to a head recently when she and her daughter were trying to watch a movie on Blu-Ray and it wouldn’t load, nor would any others she tried.

After emailing a customer support rep about her problem, and some back and forth trying to make it work had failed, she was told she’d have to hand over some cash. Here’s where Michelle’s consumer sassiness came out.

He said the only option was to send it in for an out of warranty repair. Why would I want to spend a minimum of $50 to repair it when I can buy a basic blu-ray player (and it would not be a Sony brand!) for the same price? He said his hands were tied but would I like to speak to a manager, uh…yes!

I did mention a couple of times to him (in a nice way) that I am an informed consumer and I am sure many others would be interested to hear my story on the Consumerist.com website and maybe my many friends on Facebook should be aware to avoid Sony products since they are not very well made. I admit it was a veiled threat but I felt I was getting fleeced for a repair that should not have been needed in the first place and I that I should not have to pay an unknown cost to fix.

He came back on the phone and said they were going to offer me a “goodwill repair” and will be sending me a prepaid shipping box and it will be repaired free of charge and returned back to me within two weeks. Hurray to Sony for doing the right thing!

She adds a word of advice for her fellow consumers, “Don’t ever take, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you,” as the final answer!”